Convalescent plasma transfused to coronavirus patients in Columbus

Megan Henry The Columbus Dispatch

Tuesday

Apr 21, 2020 at 4:51 PM

People who have recovered from COVID-19 have antibodies to the disease in their blood, called convalescent plasma which can help coronavirus patients fight the disease. Three people have donated their plasma to the American Red Cross in central Ohio as of Monday.

Central Ohio hospitals are starting to transfuse COVID-19 patients with plasma from people who have recovered from the disease.

People who have recovered from the coronavirus have antibodies to the disease in their blood, called convalescent plasma. Doctors hope the convalescent plasma can be transfused to patients with severe COVID-19 to help them fight the virus.

Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Nationwide Children’s Hospital both transfused their first patients last week.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration began allowing the emergency use of plasma to treat COVID-19 through a new drug study with academic institutions.

“If this proves to be effective, obviously, it will be a bridge, a game-changer, until we have a vaccine … or until other effective drugs are available,” said Dr. Rama Mallampalli, chair of the internal medicine department at the Wexner Medical Center. “I think it’s going to be very important to at least have something available right now in the ensuing weeks, and this is one option now as more and more patients recover.”

Recovered COVID-19 patients can donate plasma if they have are 18 or older and have a verified positive diagnosis of the coronavirus and have been symptom-free for at least 14 days.

People who are eligible can donate their plasma to the Red Cross. Three people have donated their plasma to the American Red Cross of Central Ohio as of Monday, said Rodney Wilson, a spokesman for the organization. He said the number of donors will likely increase in the coming weeks.

The Red Cross in central Ohio is working with the local hospital systems to identify patients who have recovered from the coronavirus to be plasma donors, he said. There is also a form people can fill out on the Red Cross website.

“Historically, convalescent plasma has been used as a potential life-saving treatment in situations when there are new diseases or infections and yet there’s no treatment or vaccine available,” Wilson said.

This form of treatment has been shown to work in the past against other viruses such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Ebola, Mallampalli said.

Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center is believed to be among the first hospitals in the state to transfuse a coronavirus patient with plasma from a recovered COVID-19 patient on April 13.

Dr. Howard Werman, an emergency medicine physician at the Wexner Medical Center, was the first person to donate blood for convalescent plasma therapy for patients there on April 10.

His coronavirus symptoms started on March 9. Werman was tested on March 19, and his result came back positive on March 20. At first, Werman said he thought it was a simple cold, but it actually turned out to be a mild case of the coronavirus.

He had a runny nose, sneezes and a persistent sore throat with fatigue and some occasional body aches. However, he never had a fever, cough or shortness of breath.

“I was very fortunate,” Werman said.

When he was approached about donating his plasma, he said he didn’t think twice about it.

“I figured I was so lucky to just have a mild case, if I can help people who had the misfortune of having a bad case, of course I would do it,” Werman said.

Patients should start to see results several days to a week after a transfusion, said Dr. Scott Scrape, a pathologist and director of transfusion medicine at Wexner Medical Center.

“We’re just in uncharted territory with COVID-19 because we’re just now starting to use (plasma transfusions) with this virus, but the concept has been proven for many years,” Scrape said.

Nick Butler, a 17-year-old senior at Dublin Jerome High School, received a plasma transfusion last Wednesday at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. He was diagnosed with the coronavirus on April 3 and went on a ventilator for seven days on April 5, said Erin Galloway, a spokeswoman for the family.

He has common variable immune deficiency, an immune system disorder that causes someone to have low levels of the proteins that help fight infections.

At first, his symptoms seemed to be a cold, but then he had a fever that started to spike.

The Food and Drug Administration approved emergency access for the use of convalescent plasma for Butler.

“Although convalescent plasma medicine is not new, we commend and thank the FDA for rapidly approving this emergency experimental treatment as part of the patient’s comprehensive care plan,” Mary Ellen Fiorino, a spokeswoman for Nationwide Children’s Hospital, said in an email.

Finding a match for Butler was “like finding a needle in a haystack,” Galloway said.

So far, Butler is responding well to the plasma transfusion and left the hospital Saturday, Galloway said.

“We need to get the word out there for COVID-19 recovered survivors,” said Dr. Joseph Gastaldo, OhioHealth System’s medical director of infectious diseases.

“Please, please, please donate your plasma,” Gastaldo said. “There are people in the hospital who are very sick, and this could potentially save their lives.”

mhenry@dispatch.com

@megankhenry

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